


third time's a charm

by tamanone



Series: memoirs [3]
Category: Joker Game (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Rated T for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-12 13:36:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18447650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamanone/pseuds/tamanone
Summary: It takes three (3) confessions for Kaminaga and Hatano to get together.(Kaminaga's inability to keep his shit together during said confessions might have contributed to the failure of the first two.)written for Memoir: A Joker Game Event week 3





	third time's a charm

**Author's Note:**

> y'all: FINALLY she writes something other than that 1980s au
> 
> just a forewarning? sort of? this is nothing like the drama cd. forget anything you know about school!au jga kids from the drama cd. don't expect any aspect of this fic to be like the drama cd. 
> 
> that's it. otherwise, enjoy!

Something that’s publicly known: Kaminaga likes to tease (and subsequently bicker with) Hatano.

Something that’s _not_ publicly known: Kaminaga does it mostly because he likes Hatano. Sort of like the whole ‘boy pulls the pigtails of the girl he has a crush on’ thing but like, better, because at least he knows that Hatano enjoys teasing and bickering with him just as much, if the mirth in his eyes whenever they make fun of each other is any indication.

But alas, the publicly known thing makes some things rather... complicated. Namely, this means that when he tries to ask Hatano out, the other does not take it seriously.

The fact that his brain self destructs whenever he so much as think about confessing does not help.

 

The first time he tries to ask Hatano out, he chickens out at the last second and asks if he’s up to watch a movie with him in the cinema. Which, objectively, is still a pretty good way to tell someone you want to go on a date with them (if a bit cowardly, and Kaminaga will admit that he’s being a coward in that moment). When Hatano laughs and says “sure”, Kaminaga can’t help but beams, thinking he can still salvage this situation, and just actually asks the other boy to be his boyfriend then.

It never ends up happening.

Kaminaga is too high-strung until d-day to make preparations like, say, checking what movie is currently out in the cinemas. When they arrive and Hatano asks what movie it is they’re watching, Kaminaga can only opens and closes his mouth a few times like a fish out of water until his mouth cleverly blurts out “What do _you_ want to watch?”

Hatano cocks an eyebrow, grins, and replies, “I’m glad you asked.”

Before he knows it, he has a ticket to a horror movie in his hand and Hatano by his side talking his ears off about how he’s been wanting to see this movie because _apparently_ everyone is saying that it’s _really_ good.

(Another thing that’s not publicly known: Kaminaga isn’t... _exactly a fan_ of horror movies.

Amari would call that an understatement, but let him retain some of his dignity, please.)

Whenever Kaminaga fantasized about this date he imagined a comedy or action movie, and then somewhere along the line Kaminaga and Hatano would reach for the popcorn bag at the same time, they’d be surprised but in a good way, and then started holding hands from that point on— yet now here he is shaking in his seat, wishing desperately to be able to just become one with the chair; he’s furiously shoving popcorns into his mouth every so often, just to give himself something to focus on other than all the gore and jumpscares on the screen. On the other hand Hatano looks like he’s having _the time of his goddamn life_ , with his gasps and his widened eyes and even (this part may have instilled a small fear within Kaminaga) laughs at certain death scenes.

Kaminaga comes out of the studio feeling like his limbs have forgotten how to function. Hatano is excitedly talking about his thoughts on the movie, while Kaminaga thinks he quite possibly passed out some time within the last quarter of it, since he has no recollections of it whatsoever.

They go to a diner afterwards, but Kaminaga is half too full from all the popcorn he consumed and half too sick from all the blood and guts he witnessed, so he just orders a milkshake. If Hatano noticed that something’s off, he didn’t mention it. They talk and exchange teasings and gossip about their classmates; they split the bill and part ways, and when Kaminaga arrives in his room he throws himself onto his bed, spends half an hour sulking, and then passes out again.

 

His second attempt is arguably worse than the first.

(The arguably part is, in and of itself, arguable.)

Thursday evenings are their designated hang out time. It’s the only day where Hatano doesn’t have basketball practice, and it’s material submission day for the journalism club that Kaminaga’s a part of, which means it’s the only day where he’s not running around taking photos for whatever story they’re printing next. Usually they spend it in the nearby 7-11, accompanied by an onigiri or instant ramen or popsicle, depending on what the weather calls for, but Hatano was down with a fever the last few days and has to ask for a time extension for his lab report, so now here they are, still in their classroom after all the other students have left to go about their business.

Kaminaga spends the first fifteen to twenty minutes scrolling through the home page of every single social media account that he owns, but he eventually grows bored, and his eyes inevitably strays to the boy in front of him, like they always do. He’s been stealthily staring from behind his phone for almost ten minutes at this point, like some fucking creep, and his only saving grace is the single-minded focus that Hatano has for his assignment.

There’s a growing urge within him, something that starts as a faint itch but is becoming harder and harder to ignore by the second.

Kaminaga wants to brush away the stray strands of hair that has fallen onto Hatano’s face. Wants to smooth out the slight frown that has taken shape in between Hatano’s brows. Wants to run his thumb across Hatano’s bottom lip, which has been captured by his teeth. He wants, he wants, he _wants_.

But in order to do that, he has to earn the right to. In order to do that, he has to know that Hatano wants it, too.

“Hatano,” he calls out, hand reaching towards the other’s free hand. Hatano, half-distracted from going over his assignment for final checking, hums out a questioning sound before lifting his head up to face Kaminaga, head slightly tilted to the side. The expression he has on is very unlike the ones he usually has when he’s looking at Kaminaga, either full of irritation, smugness, or exasperation; this expression is simply one of inquisition, the kind of expression you’d make subconsciously. It’s so cute it knocks the wind out of Kaminaga’s lung, and seems to have knocked the words out of his brain, too, because what he ends up saying is this:

“You plus me equals swag.”

Kaminaga is very, very close to punching himself in the face right now. Meanwhile Hatano’s cute expression morphs into one of bewilderment with hints of alarm mixed in and, yeah, honestly, that’s exactly how Kaminaga is feeling as well.

“I have no idea what you mean by that, and at this point I’m not sure if I even want to ask, but sure.” Hatano finally responds, gently lifting off Kaminaga’s hand that’s sitting on top of one of his own with the other, “I’m gonna go submit this to the teacher.”

By the time Hatano walks out of the room, Kaminaga has already sent a dozen crying emoji to Amari, telling him to come to the classroom.

 

“Please tell me you’re joking. Please tell me you didn’t actually say that.” Amari’s voice sounds like he’s still trying his best to hold onto the hope that his best friend isn’t a complete dumbass, and he probably has a grimace on, like the one he had when his adoptive sister Emma asked him ‘where do babies come from?’; though honestly Kaminaga wouldn’t know, since he currently has his face in his arms, which are crossed on top of the table.

Kaminaga can’t even begin to bring himself to lie, still mortified by his reality. In the end he only manages to let out some noise that resembles a whine. At that, Amari appears to have finally accept that yes, Kaminaga _did_ say that, and yes, his best friend _is_ the world’s biggest dumbass, because the sigh he emits sounds to be quite a deep one.

“See, this is why he never takes you seriously.”

Kaminaga pouts, despite knowing that Amari won’t be able to see it, before replying petulantly, “It’s not my fault he’s so cute and my brain short-circuits every time I look at him! Have you ever seen his face?”

A hand lands on top of his head, “That’s really gay and sweet, but don’t think I didn’t realize that you’re partially trying to steer away the conversation. Do we need to hold an intervention?”

Kaminaga’s pout deepens.

 

Turns out the much needed catalyst comes in the form of one of Kaminaga’s very own friend, a little over a month later.

Kurodaira was his classmate back in middle school. He’s nice, and the one time they were in a group project together he was cooperative and punctual, but they’re not close by any means.

Which is why when he sees him entering the 7-11, he’s content to just keep his mouth closed. Next to him, Hatano’s talking on the phone with his mother, something about groceries and his father having to get off work late.

It’s just his luck that Kurodaira notices him just as he finishes paying for his stuff. He nods in acknowledgement, desperately hoping that the guy would just bag his purchases and leave, which of course means what happens next is anything _but_ that.

Kaminaga, inwardly, wonders just what wrongs he did in his past lives for the universe to treat him like this.

 

“Man, I don’t think we’ve heard from each other since graduation.” Kurodaira says, right as Hatano ends his call and turns to face Kaminaga.

“Hey, so, mom wants me to help her bring back the—oh, sorry, didn’t notice you there.” Hatano’s eyes flit back and forth between the two of them, “I’m guessing you’re a friend of Kaminaga’s?”

Kurodaira offers a hand to shake, “Yeah, we were classmates. I’m Kurodaira.”

“Hatano. Really nice to meet you, but unfortunately,” he turns to Kaminaga again, “like I said, I gotta go. I’ll pay you back tomorrow?”

Kaminaga, still looking like a deer caught in the headlights, can only nod in response. Hatano packs up his things, gives Kurodaira a smile, then walks out the sliding door.

Only after Hatano is out of his sight can Kaminaga redirect his eyes back to his former classmate. What he finds is that he also has his eyes trained at the direction that Hatano went into.

Kaminaga has a bad feeling about this.

“Your friend is so cute,” is the first thing Kurodaira says after he snaps out of it.

The second thing happens almost in slow-motion, like Kaminaga’s nightmare coming to life:

“is he single?”

That makes Kaminaga choke on the chocolate milk he’s sipping on, and he only barely saves himself from spitting it out all over the table. “Oh, uh, he... he is..”

Seemingly oblivious to Kaminaga’s reaction, Kurodaira continues, “Great, can you ask him if it’s okay for me to get his number?”

His instinct, of course, tells him to answer with a ‘no’, but who is he to do that? Kaminaga is not Hatano’s boyfriend. Kaminaga is not Hatano’s _anything_. Kaminaga is Hatano’s friend, at most; otherwise Kaminaga is just a boy who has a pathetic crush on him.

“Sure,” he finally answers, hoping the lifelessness is not as apparent in his voice as it is in his heart, “I’ll text him later.”

 

‘Later’ turns out to be a whole three days later on a Sunday night, because Kaminaga ‘conveniently’ forgets about it until the guilt start to eat away at him. 

...Or so he says, but he still can’t help the heaviness he feels as he opens his chatroom with Hatano and begins typing.

 

 

 

 

> **hatano**
> 
> **(20.53) hey**
> 
> **sup (20.54)**
> 
> **(20.54) my friend thinks you’re cute**
> 
> **what friend... (20.54)**

Kaminaga’s fingers are already hovering above the proper letters, seconds away from typing in the name, when he stops.

_And what if Hatano ended up liking his friend back?_

_What would he do then?_

_Would he really let his first ever crush go, when he himself has never received a rejection?_

Unthinkingly, his fingers start typing something else.

 

 

 

 

> **(21.01) me, i’m the friend**
> 
> **(21.01) and also kurodaira**
> 
> **(21.01) but mostly me**

Half a minute later Hatano replies with a simple “ **what** ”, and well, the cat’s out of the bag now, so he might as well see this through, right?

 

 

 

 

> **(21.02) i think you’re cute**

It takes a good ten minutes before Hatano texts him back. A good ten minutes where all the fear and anxiety within him grows exponentially. When Kaminaga goes to check the message, it does nothing to soothe his nerves. In fact, it might have made it worse.

 

 

 

 

> **is this some kind of prank you’re pulling on me? (21.12)**

This time it’s Kaminaga who sends back a “ **what** ”, pure panic beginning to spread through him. Why would Hatano think Kaminaga is _pranking_ him?

The app tells him his text has been read, yet he’s getting no reply whatsoever. His anxieties are starting to choking him from the inside. His fingers are on the keyboard for a moment before he moves them until they hover above the call button.

 _Let’s just rip the bandaid off in one go_ , he thinks. _I’m most likely going to be rejected, but I need the closure._

Then, he clicks.

 

Hatano picks up on the fourth ring, but otherwise stays silent.

“Hatano?” he calls out, his heart hammering is within its cage.

He hears a sigh, “Just what is the meaning of all this, Kaminaga?”

He doesn’t sound upset, per se. It’s more like... tired, if anything. Kaminaga can’t decide if that’s better or worse.

“It means exactly how it sounds. I think you’re cute. I’m not making fun of you or anything.”

Another sigh, “Huh, okay... well that’s a high praise, I suppose, coming from the straightest guy I know.”

His heart either skipped a beat or just leaped up to his throat, Kaminaga can’t even tell anymore.

“Wait—what do you mean by that?”

“It means exactly how it sounds.” Hatano throws back at him. It makes Kaminaga frown.

“I’m not...” something clicks inside his mind. “Is that what you think this whole time?”

“Well, yeah? What’s with this question... did you forget that you used to have a new girlfriend every other week?”

Kaminaga didn’t, but it’s also been months since his last date with a girl, he thinks it should hardly count.

“ _‘Used to’_. Why do you think I stopped?”

Hatano scoffs at the question, “I don’t know, you finally realized that going out with someone you don’t genuinely like isn’t such a good id..”

He trails off, and then stops entirely. When he finally speaks again, his voice is small.

“Wait, why did you stop?”

Kaminaga lets out a chuckle. It’s a sad, hollow sound. “You’re not too far off. I stopped going out with people I don’t genuinely like because I finally did find someone I genuinely like.”

“Oh,” Hatano’s voice is still so small, “you never told me.”

Kaminaga rubs the back of his neck, half sheepish and half bitter, even though he knows Hatano can’t see it. “I did, kind of. Do you want to know who it is?”

It takes a moment before Hatano gives an affirmative hum.

( _Here goes nothing._ )

“It’s you, Hatano,” he hears the sound of a hitched breath from the line, and his grips on the phone tightens, “I’m not saying this to guilt trip you, or anything, I just want to tell you because I need closure for myself.”

Kaminaga waits for a few moment, and when the other says nothing, he opens his mouth to give more reassurances that _he knows, Hatano doesn’t like him back and that’s okay_.

That is, until he thinks he hears a muffled noise that sounds suspiciously like a sniffle. Immediately, he turns from scared to _terrified_.

“Ah, Hatano?”

No response.

“Hatano, are you okay?”

“Shut up! I’m fine!” Hatano barks all of a sudden, but it’s followed by another, louder sniffle, which completely contradicts his words.

“Hey, why are you crying? I’m the one getting rejected here.” Kaminaga remarks, voice steady and tender and artificially cheery.

Then comes Hatano’s retort, “I said shut up! Ugly, stupid Kaminaga! Be quiet!”

 

And Kaminaga does; he lies back down onto his bed, and waits.

 

“Sorry.” Hatano says after a while, his voice significantly calmer.

Kaminaga turns his face towards his phone, now lying atop his pillow. “No, don’t be,” he replies, “I’m just... confused as to what caused it, mostly.”

Hatano takes a deep breath.

“It’s just — I spent nearly a year feeling like a fool for liking someone who would never like me back,”

_...Huh?_

“and now I feel like a fool for thinking you would never like me back.”

Kaminaga blinks once, twice, thrice; then he shoots up from the bed, hand frantically grappling his phone.

“Huh?” he blurts out, the only thing his brain can come up with even once the words registered.

Kaminaga can just imagine it from the way Hatano sighs, that the other his rolling his eyes at him, “I like you too, Kaminaga.”

“You... Really...?” He says into the phone, “Why?”

Another scoff from Hatano, but this time it’s a much lighter sound. It fills Kaminaga’s heart with fondness. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Touché,” Kaminaga says, embarrassed. “Wait, so does this mean...?”

“Hm?” Hatano says, “Oh. Yeah. I guess.”

“Coolio.” Kaminaga instinctively responds, and then immediately face palming.

“Wow, it hasn’t even been five minutes and I’m already regretting everything.” Hatano remarks, voice flat but obviously teasing.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Kaminaga mumbles.

At this, Hatano starts to chuckle. “Aah, what the hell. I like you so much, it’s ridiculous.”

“I think that’s my line.” Kaminaga says through the smile that’s beginning to bloom on his face.

“It can be both of our lines.” Hatano adds carelessly.

His smile just grows wider and wider. “Look who’s being lame now.”

“We both are. We honestly deserve each other.”

Kaminaga’s entire body is so warm, so in contrast with the near freezing temperature of his room. “Yeah,” he says, “we really do.”

 

(“So about, uh, your friend...”

“Oh shit, I completely forgot about him.”

“That bit was also true?”

“Shit, yes, Kurodaira asked me to ask you if he can have your number.”

“That’s... very nice of him to ask for permission first. Okay, you can give it to him.”

“Eh?”

“What? You can never have too many friends... Or, don’t tell me, you were jealous?”

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“Ahaha, just tell him I’d love to talk and get to know him. And if he refuses because he no longer has the chance to get into my pants then that’s his loss.”

“Right. What matters is that at the end of the day I’m the one who gets to call you my boyfriend.”

“You— that’s—

...yes.”

“Okay. Well, good night, see you tomorrow in class?”

“Good night, see you tomorrow in class.”)

**Author's Note:**

> ngl i feel accomplished for finally writing smth in kaminaga's pov sdhjfsh 
> 
> some... stuff. idk. notes? because i can never rest easy if i don't tell you guys my entire thought process when writing a fic  
> -[this](https://twitter.com/jxngkook/status/1113493615769268225) is where the "u + me = swag" idea comes from. this whole fic literally stemmed from that meme. i wrote three thousand words just so i could insert that meme.  
> -my hc for "school's resident playboy kaminaga" is that he doesn't go around asking people out, but just the naturally charming, friendly type. so a bunch of girls confess to him on a regular basis, and he more often than not will say yes, even though he doesn't necessarily like the girls; hoping he eventually would fall for one of them. it never happens, and the girl always ended up asking to end things, not because he's treating them badly (quite the opposite in fact) but at one point they always realize that his heart is not in it.  
> -kaminaga's crush on hatano started after the first time they ganged up to prank miyoshi. it was a success and the two of them were just laughing their assess off, and then hatano turns to smile (not grin or smirk, but smile) at kaminaga and bumps their shoulders together. kaminaga's heart started racing like there's no tomorrow. this was not too long after their freshmen year started (to put in perspective: the third confession happens near the end of their freshmen year). i wanted to write this in but couldn't figure out how, so i'm telling you guys about it here.  
> -i originally wanted kaminaga to be super dramatic and went to hatano's house after the "well, yeah?" line, mostly to appease my desire to establish that kaminaga's parents are rich and famous (mom is a former top actress & dad is the owner of a tv station) and bought him a ducati scrambler for his 16th birthday, but i thankfully managed to restrain myself. you're welcome.  
> -kurodaira is not an oc. apparently (according to jgfiles) he's one of the wind agency spies. i just borrowed his name bc my first thought was using terushima from haikyuu but that'd be kind of weird.
> 
> anyway: here's my [twitter](https://twitter.com/kaminagasama), [cc](https://curiouscat.me/tamanone), and [tumblr](http://tamanone.tumblr.com/).


End file.
